felt more like a film school exercise than an actual film...

This movie was okay but it honestly felt more like a really good exercise from film school than the kind of film you pay to see. There are certainly elements on display that are very impressive here, most notably the unconventional way in which Chris Nolan chose to structure the story, but it lacks any sort of emotional/visceral impact.

The problem with the film is that there doesn't seem to be any overarching point to it. Unlike Nolan's later films, which used unconventional narrative elements to explore recognizable themes (the cathartic nature of vengeance in Memento, grief and personal guilt in Inception etc), Following uses its non-linear structure purely for the sake of style and narrative enhancement. It's a movie that is all about form and technique, but not about substance. Unlike those previously mentioned films, if you try to actually analyze Following on the merit of themes and messages, you'll find there to be very little to grasp. In the end, all the movie is about is a guy getting duped into the world's most elaborate cover-up plot.

In the end, the movie succeeds at what it set out to do, to promote Chris Nolan as a director with talent to studio heads. It is worth a watch for its ambition and scope alone (and to see where Chris Nolan got his start, of course) but in all honesty, without the knowledge of it being made by one of the most successful Hollywood directors in recent memory, it probably wouldn't appear on anyone's list of memorable indie films. Stuff like Clerks and El Mariachi manage to entertain much more with their similarly tiny budgets.

Who's with me?